1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cooling system for land vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved coolant pump for snowmobiles that is more compact than conventional coolant pumps such that the overall engine and vehicle body can be made smaller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Snowmobiles are powered by internal combustion engines that are mounted within a substantially enclosed engine compartment forward of the rider's seat. The engine compartment typically is defined within a cowling and is generally relatively small. Although operated in a relatively cold environment, components of such engines often get quite hot. Accordingly, such engines often employ a cooling system.
One type of cooling system employed to maintain a reasonably cool running temperature is a liquid coolant cooling system. Such a system will often employ a coolant pump to circulate liquid coolant within the engine. One type of coolant pump is a centrifugal pump that has a fluid inlet port located on a lid. To accommodate the incoming fluid that flows through the fluid inlet port, the lid is sometimes provided with a protruding inlet conduit that extends away from the rest of the pump in one direction. The inlet conduit is then routed using a ninety degree bend so that the coolant flows toward the pump in a direction parallel to the plane of the lid. This arrangement is unsatisfactory because it results in a pump that is large in size. The relatively large size pump is unsatisfactory because it can interfere with other components that are mounted in the vicinity of the pump.
To avoid such interference, the size of the engine can be increased. However, the larger engine may not fit within the small engine compartment of the snowmobile or may interfere with other components of the snowmobile located forward of the seat.